That said, here’s what’s going on. Coincidently, on or about the same day a reader (jokingly, I believe) suggested meeting, one of our blog “fathers” said the same thing.

He tossed out the idea one morning, saying maybe we’d gather at Professor Java’s (or somewhere like that). We talked about a stop-in kind of event, where readers could remain anonymous (well, to a degree), going by their OTE screen name, rather than actual identities.

We agreed to talk about it in the coming weeks.

The idea has potential to go well, but it also has the chance to go very, very bad. The number of people (more than 9 out of 10) who use fake names on here is exponential. And the plethora of false email addresses is nearly as great. What does all that mean? People like hiding.

Some (many) people wouldn’t come- they like their online persona and don’t want to taint the “character” they’ve created. And, well, if just a few stopped by, it would just be lame (heck, it could be lame anyway … you never know).

And then we’ve got my feelings toward the whole thing. If the TU really, really wanted to host this kind of event, I’d be there. But, I like what we have … a distance (acquaintance-type) relationship.

Many of you come up when I’m out at events for Seen, etc., to say “hello,” and I love that, but an orchestrated get together may ruin the allure brought by a bunch of strangers sharing this one community.

Where I once lived there was this radio station that had a woman morning DJ that had the most beautiful and soothing voice I have ever heard. Then one day after much internal debate I decided to look her up on the station’s website so I could see a picture of her. Let’s just say that she wasn’t the majestical figure that I had imagined her to be in my head…from that point on listening to her was never the same.

10 years ago, I belonged to he online running board at Compuserve. Eventually, we did all get together at the occasional marathon, and it was really great to connect faces to online personas. As C-serve sank, so did the group, but it was fun while it lasted (and I think a couple of the members remained in touch – two even got married!)

That said, I don’t know if the mutual interests on OTE are as unifying as a group who are all distance runners.

Washington Park…this Saturday? You know it’s LatinFest right? That’s going to be just as loud as a Lark Street bar/restaurant. Either way, I’d show up if you organized something…i think it would be cool to meet all you characters.

I think it should be a last minute thing, so it won’t have that manufactured feel to it, just a spur of the moment, come as you are kinda thing: “OTE MEET UP – TODAY AT 6:11pm, Peking/Alibi’s, Madison Ave!” and post it at like 1:30 that same afternoon – that would be awesome.

I wouldn’t show up…I agree with Kristi and with Shimmy. The whole point of this blog is to be able to speak your mind without fear of being judged (to a point) Once you meet face-to-face, that gets compromised.